LANG LEBE DER KONIG!
(Long live the King)
by Gunter Burkhardt
Published by FX Schmid 1997
Translated by Richard Ingram
Distributed from The Rules Bank by Mike Siggins
Contents
1 map board which shows England and Wales. This is sub-divided into 13
territories which are themselves made up of counties; ( these play no
part in the game but are there to provide historical flavour ).
Each territory features a 'capital' with a name together with a coat of
arms bearing a number between 2 and 4. This number indicates the total
of 'votes' that that territory contributes towards the choosing of a
king. Altogether 39 votes are available - the winner must control at
least 20 of these for victory.
IMPORTANT:
With 3 players, the Isle of Man does not play any part, i.e. a playing
piece may be moved neither onto nor over the island. Accordingly, the
Isle of Man's votes are unavailable, reducing the overall total to 37.
To win, control of 19 votes will therefore be necessary.
5 large playing pieces, which represent power-hungry nobles who wish to
become chosen as king.
90 small playing pieces ( 18 in each colour ) which represent the
retinue, family members and courtiers of each baron.
100 cards with values of x1, x2 and x3. These cards symbolise the
influence which the players exert during diplomatic discussions. There
are 3 grades of card - simple agreement ( parchment ), financial offers
( pouch of gold ), and threats of unpleasantness ( dagger ).
12 start cards which show a territory on the front in which players
begin the game.
2 gold-coloured pieces which act as markers and are placed on the scroll
( 0-9, 10-60 ) at the bottom right of the board.
5 wooden dice, numbered from 1-6. Diplomatic discussions will be settled
using these dice.
Preparations
Set out the map board, put the gold-coloured markers on the scroll and
have the dice to hand.
Sort out the start cards in accordance with the number of players,
shuffle them, and deal one to each player.
With 3 players, use the cards with a 3 on the back
With 4 players, 4
With 5 players, 5
Each player takes:
1 large playing piece in the colour of his choice which he places in the
territory named on his start card.
18 courtiers of the same colour. 2 of these are to be placed with the
baron; 1 is to be placed at the foot of the bonus votes table (marked
with an arrow) in the top right corner of the board; and the rest are to
be placed in front of the player forming a stockpile.
For the purpose of clarity, place courtiers in a territory close to one
another near the coat-of-arms so that at a glance it is always possible
to see which player has which territories under his influence. 20
influence cards as follows:
12 x 1 parchment cards, 7 x 2 pouch cards, 1x3 dagger cards
Influence cards should be kept secret from other players during the
game.
If playing with less than 5 players, all other equipment can be returned
to the box.
How to play
With 3 players , the player in Rouecestre ( Rochester ) begins.
With 4 Tateshale ( Tatershall? )
With 5 Stadford ( Stafford )
Play passes in clockwise fashion.
When it is your turn, you will normally move your baron into a
neighbouring territory. There are 3 possibilities:
The territory is empty
Your own courtiers are there
Opponents' courtiers are there.
Each territory has between 2 and 6 borders, and so between 2 and 6
neighbouring territories. Wigemor has 6, including the Isle of Man and
Lideforde; Sarisberie has only 2. The dotted lines indicate routes which
may be taken to reach the off-shore neighbouring territory, the Isle of
Man.The territory is empty. If so, a player can place a courtier there
taken from his stockpile, and another if he chooses to use the dice. To
achieve this, he must place an influence card on the discard pile space
( top left of the board ) - perhaps most sensibly a x1 card. He then has
the right to throw one die. If he throws a 3, 4, 5 or 6, he may place a
second courtier, but not if he throws a 1 or a 2. In either case, the
influence card remains used. Use of a x2 card, doubles the number
thrown, a x3, trebles it. He can repeat this process if he chooses,
surrendering one influence card each time, until the territory is full (
i.e. the number of courtiers equals the number on the coat of arms in
the territory ), or he chooses to give up. Then it is the next players
turn. NB The baron does not count towards the total.
Examples: 4 courtiers may be placed in Tateshale, 2 in Sedberouie
(Sedburgh ), not including the baron. If at any time you run out of
courtiers to place, no more be added, but you can bring a territory
temporarily under your control by moving your baron there.
Your own courtiers are in the territory
If there is already at least one of your courtiers in a territory, you
can again place one courtier for free and then choose to use a card/die
combination as described above, to reach the capacity limit.
If you choose to, you can also abstain from moving your baron. Staying
where you are , with your own courtiers, entitles you to place another
courtier there for free and use the card/die combination as you wish,
before it is the next player's turn.
NB You can even elect to do nothing, neither move your baron, nor
place any courtiers, if doing either would, you think, do you harm.
Instead of placing courtiers in an empty or controlled territory, a
player can also move through one such territory to another adjacent
territory. In this case, no courtiers may be placed in the crossed
through territories - either for free or by use of a die.
The placing of courtiers always ends your turn at once.
In order to be able to move to another territory in this way, a player
must always use the card/dice combination. If he throws a 1 or 2, he
must either stop immediately - no more courtiers may be placed - or try
again by playing another influence card, and throwing again etc. If he
throws a 3 or higher, he may move and then have a choice at once of
possibilities A, B and C. You can make as many moves as you like in one
turn through empty or friendly territories, so long as you use the dice
for each move. But you cannot enter any one territory more than once
each turn.
Opponents courtiers are in the territory
i.e. If there is at least one courtier belonging to another player in
situ or an opponent's baron, a diplomatic discussion is inevitable
NB You cannot enter an opponent's territory if it costs you your last
card to do so.
IMPORTANT If a player only has one territory at his disposal, he cannot
become engaged there as losing out in the diplomatic discussions would
leave that player no where to be banished to.
Diplomatic discussions
All players take part in a diplomatic discussion, not only the intruder
and the defender.
Each player must take in his hand between 1 and 5 influence cards,
hidden from his opponents, and lay them on the table.
When all players have done this, the chosen cards are turned over and
acted upon.
The intruder begins and throws as many dice as he has played cards. He
then places one dice on each card and works out the points total.
Placement on a x1 card means the dice is worth its face value. On a x2
card, the die's value is doubled, and it is trebled on a x3 card. It is
all a question of greater influence being brought to bear. To the
resultant total should be added 2 points for the baron piece as it is in
the disputed territory. By means of the gold-coloured markers, his total
influence points should be noted.
In the same way now in clockwise order, all other players calculate
their influence points, the defender adding on two points for each
courtier in the disputed territory, and a further 2 points should his
baron be present. Each player who scores more points than the first
player, ( the intruder ), should mark their score using the
gold-coloured markers.
See example in German rules booklet:
Player A, the intruder, scores 39 points.
Player B scores 36 points.
Player C, the defender, scores 40 points.
The player with the highest total of influence points has won the
diplomatic tussle. If there is a tie, the concerned players re-roll
their dice - played cards cannot be changed.
He can place one courtier in the disputed territory for free and then
perhaps add additional courtiers using the card/die combination.
The maximum number of courtiers rule still stands.
If the defender wins, he places the foreign baron in a territory in
which the defeated baron has courtiers. He has been banished. His own
baron is not moved.
If the intruder wins, he gives all defender's courtiers present in the
territory back to the owner, who places them in his stockpile, and
banishes the defeated baron, if present, to one of that player's
controlled territories.If another player wins, opponents' courtiers and
barons are banished. He cannot move his baron to the territory however.
At the end of a turn, only the courtiers and/or baron of one player may
be left in a territory.
All cards used by all players are discarded, unless that is a player has
thrown 1s with the dice. For each 1 thrown he may retain one of the
played cards in accordance with the following rules - he must take x1
cards before x2 cards, which in turn must go before x3 cards,
irrespective of which cards the 1s were placed on. This rule applies
only if a player committed at least two cards to the discussions, and
the taking back of cards even then is optional.
Example:Cards played - x1, x1, x2, x2, x3
Dice thrown - 1, 1, 3, 4, 6
Cards taken back - x1, x1.
(If a third 1 had been thrown, a x2 card could have been retrieved as well).
The turn is now over, and the next player to his left takes his turn.
Election of king
If any player, after his own or another player's turn, has no influence
cards left, he must tell the others. The game is interrupted and the
first election for king takes place.
Each player counts up all votes in territories in which he has courtiers
and/or his baron, i.e. he adds up numbers in the appropriate coats of
arms.
IMPORTANT: The player with no cards left, must first divide his votes
total by 3 and subtract one third of his votes ( rounded off ) as
penalty for excessive use of influence.
Example: Player C has no cards left and triggers a royal election. He
counts up his votes, ( 14 ), divides by 3, ( 4.6 ), and withdraws 4
votes from his total, leaving him with 10.
If a player has achieved the majority of votes at the election,
19 votes with 3 players
20 votes with 4/5 players
the game ends and that player has won.
Otherwise, and this is usually the case in the first two elections, and
often the third and fourth as well, bonus votes are distributed and the
game will continue.With 3 players, the strongest player, vote-wise,
receives 3 bonus votes, the second strongest 2 bonus votes and the
weakest one bonus vote.With 4 players, the bonus numbers are 4, 3, 2 and
1 and with 5 players, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. These bonus votes are recorded
on the table on the board.If there is a tie for votes 'secured', the
player with most influence cards receives the highest bonus. If there is
still a tie, It's down to chance. All concerned players throw all 5 dice
- highest total wins.
The discard pile is now shuffled and dealt out to the players, cards
from which they add to their hands. No more than 15 cards should be
dealt out to any one player. Left over cards should be replaced, face
down, on the discard pile. If only some of the players would receive 15
cards due to the number of cards in the discard pile, the available
cards should be distributed fairly and evenly. Left over cards would be
returned to the discard pile.
The game then continues with the next player, and carries on until again
a player has no cards at the end of any player's turn.The second and
subsequent elections are conducted in the same way as the first, and the
same actions are pursued if no king is elected.When assessing the
distribution of bonus votes, do not include existing bonus votes in your
calculations. However, bonus votes do of course count towards your total
when an election takes place.
End of the game
The game ends when at an election, and only at an election, a player
reaches the required number of votes, by tallying his votes displayed in
territories and his bonus votes. This player is the winner.Should more
than one player be successful in terms of achieving the right number,
the player furthest past 'the finishing post' wins. If there is still a
tie, the most cards in the hand splits the tie. If still tied, it's down
to the dice!